Girls Who Avoid Their Wise Elders Are Cared For
by Shinimegami 2.0
Summary: For though Tris herself didn't realize it, Niko saw her as his daughter. His child. What I think Niko thinks. Read and Review please.


Summary- A look into Niko's mind when Tris collapses during Shatterglass.

Rating- K

SS- I've never written anything under an M rating before. Or not a romance/hentai. I couldn't help writing this. I can't see Niko paired with anyone, so I tried writing him as a fatherly person. Tris needs someone to care about her, so...yeah.

Kali- We're just as shocked as the rest of you.

Athena- Speak for yourselves. I always knew she could do it.

SS- Whatever. Hope y'all like it. This story is dedicated to my girls, **mellinde**, and **The Blacklionness**. Love ya ladies!

_Girls Who Avoid Their Wise Elders Are Often Cared For_

Niko caught his student as she fell. Poor girl was exhausted, using up so much of her energy. She had been that way ever since he'd met her, putting too much of her strength into too many projects.

His eyebrow's drew together in a frown at the weight of his student as he lifted her, bridal-style, into his arms. She felt lighter; had she been eating properly? Niko knew that, contrary to popular belief, Tris was not a heavy girl. Her metabolism was slower than most, but she was not overweight. She probably weighed a bit less than Daja, but where the smith-mage was all hardened muscle, Tris had soft curves.

The thought of her losing weight for any reason (especially because some of the more noted women in Emelan had made it popular, and more so because of the epidemic that almost claimed Rosethorn three years ago) disturbed Niko. Keth should have been more attentive to her.

Which brought him full-circle to the reason Tris had fallen over unconscious. Between playing the vigilante for a killer who preyed upon the women of Khapik, caring for an orphaned four year old academic mage that lived in Khapik, and convincing a thirty year old man that a fourteen year old girl was his best hope for a teacher in lightning magic, it was understandable that Tris was drained. If Niko had not been so anxious with worry, he might have smiled. But in all actuality, not a factor in this situation had been amusing.

Fourteen was too young an age for this girl to be involved with such things. She shouldn't be caring for a child that was not her own, she should be considering the prospect of her future children! She shouldn't be struggling to get a thirty year old glass mage to acknowledge his lightning magic, she should be thinking of a future husband. And Shurri defend him, she should definitely **_not_** be looking for killers. She shouldn't even have to know about those types of people.

But Niko understood why she was so adamant about bringing The Ghost to justice herself. Little Glaki, orphaned twice and delivered into Tris's care by The Ghost, reminded the weather-mage of herself as a child: lonely and desperate for affection.

"_He deserves to die!"_

He gripped the prone body of his student closer to his chest as the carriage drew closer to Jumshida's. Had her past been the cause for the coldness she displayed? Was this why she was so attuned to lightning, one of Mother Nature's more destructive forces.

Niko knew the answer in his heart.

He sighed, staring at the child in his arms. For though Tris herself did not realize it, and it had taken some time for Niko as well to understand, he saw her as his daughter. His child.

The carriage stopped outside of Jumshida's house, and Niko was unsurprised to see that the cook was the only one waiting. Jumshida was a wonderful woman, but she was dealing with an entire council of sight-mages.

The cook ushered him inside, and asked after Tris's health. Niko felt his heart warm at her slight, yet kind, gesture. The woman was caring and often worried after the well-being of her mistress's residents. He thanked her, assured her that Tris was alright, and sent her off to her own bed for the night.

He carried Tris upstairs and set her gently on the bed. Damping a cloth in a bowl of warm water, he undressed her and began wiping off the worst of the sweat and grime from her body. He worked efficiently, without even a blush, as he inspected her form. There was a bruise on her stomach in the imprint of The Ghost's feet. Niko shook his head and put her nightgown on her.

He often noted that, unless she was having the nightmare about the slave-mages the pirates had used three years ago, she looked so peaceful when she slept. So different from the tempered steel persona she employed while conscious. She really did not understand that he would not betray her, that she did not have to protect herself with him.

Niko sighed for what seemed to be the billionth time that evening. How could he show her that he loved her, that he would protect her, take care of her? How would he prove to her that she was loved, from little Glaki to the ever cantakerous Dedicates Crane and Rosethorn.

Chime, the beautiful, miniature glass dragon, had managed to be silent the entire time. Now, she softly keened her distress into Niko's ear. The tall man smiled as he tucked the girl into bed. He pressed a kiss onto the soft red whorls of her braids. His precious daughter...

Keth would be here in the morning with Glaki. Dema would also be by later, after he dealt with the Keepers of the Peace. Niko sat down heavily in the chair beside his student's bed. Gods...

The Ghost had been one of the _prathmuni_. Niko didn't have to be a sight-mage to know what would happen now. Massacre would be too of a word for what would happen now. Children would die. All because one stupid, insignificant man thought he deserved revenge. Niko was glad that Tris would not be awake to see or hear the violence.

"_He deserves to die!"_

Tris was truly a good person, Niko knew this much to be true. If she weren't, she never would have saved Shriek, the little starling, only to let him go when he found a flock. She never would have allowed Little Bear to come traveling with them if she didn't care, saying it was because he would be bored in Emelan, but meaning she would be lonely. If she didn't care, she never would have left Jumshida's to take care of a _yaskedasu_'s daughter who wasn't being cared for properly.

Niko lit the candle next to him and picked up a book. Over the next five days he would only leave her side to relieve and wash himself. He began his vigil by talking to the sleeping girl.

"I do love you, Tris... my beautiful, precious, darling little girl."

"_When she awoke, five days later, she was in Jumshida's house...Someone, she hoped Jumshida, had dressed her in a nightgown." — Pg. 349, Shatterglass_

END


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